Put MPs with name beginning 'Mc' in a different queue, says Tory MP

MPs with names beginning with ‘Mc’ should be consigned “to the outer darkness” and put in a different voting queue at the House of Commons, according to Tory MP Philip Hollobone.

The MP for Kettering today raised concerns over “unnecessary delays” to House business, calling for action to even up the lengths of voting queues.

He suggested: “The quickest and easiest way to do that would be to consign the 25 Members whose surname begins with ‘Mc’ to the outer darkness of the N to Z queue.”

Commons Leader Chris Grayling promised to examine the matter, saying: “As a G who stands in the queue while the other queues disappear, I have an awful lot of sympathy with him.”

During House of Commons Business, Kettering said: “Does the Leader of the House share my concern that the business of the House is being delayed by Divisions taking an unnecessarily long time? It seems to me that the primary cause is the unequal length of the alphabetical queues in the voting Lobbies.

“A quick analysis shows that there are 199 Members in the N to Z queue and 236 in the G to M queue.

“Given that the Leader of the House is a G and the Chief Whip is an H, will they ensure that by the time we come back in September, the queue lengths have been equalised?

Grayling responded: “I very much value my Scottish colleagues in this Union Parliament, and I would not wish to consign them to any outer darkness.

“I have every sympathy with the point that my Honourable Friend makes, and when the House of Commons Commission starts meeting I intend to ask officials to look at it.”